S-CAR in April: Reasons to Celebrate

On April 20, 2013, S-CAR community members came together to celebrate the Thirty Year Anniversary of the School, a milestone in the institution’s “journey from the modest trailer in Fairfax in which it began to the junction of knowledge and policy,” as Dean Bartoli would say. Thirty years after George Mason University supported the inception of an innovative postgraduate degree, a Master of Science in Conflict Resolution, S-CAR finds itself expanding its sphere of influence and impact with a full range of degrees in addition to the MS, boasting graduates of the BS, BA, PhD, and graduate certificate programs. Alumni, professors, and current students alike find themselves embedded in the full spectrum of institutions rooted in conflict analysis and resolution.

With so much to celebrate, the event spanned the entire Saturday and began with a keynote address by the President of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Melanie Greenberg, and was followed by panels that explored the historical, contemporary, and future endeavors of S-CAR. The message gleamed from these panels asserted that the roots of the School have spread far and wide, creating a dynamic community dedicated to the resolution of conflict.

In fact, S-CAR hosted a prominent member of this community three days prior to the Thirty Year Anniversary event. Senator George Mitchell, architect of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland and Special Envoy to the Middle East, spoke of the importance of place in peacebuilding and honored the history and vision of a new ‘Point of View’ as S-CAR anticipates its next thirty years of service to the world. The School is certainly expected to play a pivotal role in enabling George Mason University to become the 'best university for the world,' a vision President Ángel Cabrera has espoused upon heavily in his inaugural year.